Say my name, say my name...

Why we chose the Goddess Athena as the namesake for our two most recent funds

The Goddess Athena was... a real piece of work, as they say. And she started early. When her father ate her mother to prevent her birth, she just hatched fully grown from the man’s forehead. It was the first of many “drop the mic” kind of moments.

Check out the video below to hear a little more about why RevUp chose the Goddess Athena to be the namesake of our last two funds. Not into watching? Scroll down for a transcript. Interested in learning more about our Fund? Start here if you are an investor interested in becoming an LP. Start here if you are company that might be a fit for our portfolio.

Hi I'm Melissa Withers managing partner of RevUp Capital.

So why did we choose the goddess athena to be the namesake of our two most recent funds?

I'm a big believer in the power of stories to help us understand the world, each other, and maybe most importantly understand our ourselves.

Stories are the currency of the human experience. And building a story is a HUGE part of building a company.

Whether you are conscious of it or not, the stories you tell yourself, your partners, your team, your customers or your investors…those stories can make or break you.

And in good times and in bad, our company stories can help us find our way home, especially when we have been blown off course.

As an investor, I ask founders every day to tell me their company story. Why you, why now, why this?

And the best founders take the challenge seriously. They work hard to connect the dots, to give deeper meaning to their KPIs, to give color and substance to what motivates them to succeed.

But you know what else...the very best founders also ask the same from me. What’s my story? What are the values that we hold an investors? And how does that carry through into our work?

When we created RevUp back in 2016 our goal was to design a model for investing into early stage companies where we could break free from the exit or bust constraints of equity.

We wanted to invest into a broad spectrum of companies, not just the tiny sliver of those who may one day go on to become “unicorns.” We wanted to build companies that delivered products and services the world wants and needs.

And as someone who has personally seen and experienced the bias and inequities in the Venture system, we wanted to serve and support founders differently….while also making money for ourselves and for our investors.

So a few years back I got to thinking about what we had built and how I wanted to present that story to the world. Enter the goddess Athena.

Athena was… a real piece of work, as they say. And she started early

When her father ate her mother to prevent her birth, she just hatched fully grown from the man’s forehead. It was the first of many “drop the mic” kind of moments

And with an origin story like that, you can understand why she did not suffer fools gladly.

She was an artist. A strategist, and weirdly….a super hard worker. She never phoned it in, despite being one of the most powerful deities of all time.

She was the champion of crafters and makers, those who pursued excellence through practice, repetition, dedication and hard work.

She was also a fierce warrior who led her people into battle…She had a real bone to pick with those who misused or abused power.

Yet somehow despite the carnage in her wake, she was renowned for her good counsel, prudent restraint, and practical insights.

It’s not easy to be the goddess of war AND of wisdom.

Like the equally great deity Kenny RTogers, Athena knew when to hold em, when to fold em, when to walk away, and when to run.

There’s one part of Athena’s story that I keep very close to my heart. She was a bit Type-A and a little hyper competitive–she did once turn her rival into a spider after loosing a textiles competition.

But in her more graceful moments–which was most of the time–Athena was a real pay-it-forward kind of lady.

Behind many of the great heroes of greek mythology stands athena in the shadows, she helped odysseus get home.

It was Athena who gave perseus the shield he needed to fight medusa. She was, quite literally, the OG super mentor. She was a problem solver. An honest advisor. A protector of those who had the grit and the courage to make things with their own hands.

At the end of the day, it's the founders who run the companies that we invest into who really matter. They are the stars of my RevUP story.

And I picked Athena as much for them as I did for myself.

Our founders are makers. Creators. Warrior business builders who get up each day and put one foot in front of the other, in hopes of building something beautiful.

And…I know that Athena would be as proud as we are to lead them into battle! So this is why we picked the Goddess Athena as our namesake.

And that’s it. Thanks for listening.

More About RevUp Capital 

RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K.

We invest into a company's market-facing activity using a cash and capacity model. We pair our cash investment with dedicated support from the RevUp Growth Platform: a powerful resource to build a data-driven growth engine, delivered by people who get the work done. Rather than take equity, companies return investment through a small percentage of revenue over time. More at www.revupfund.com